


Scythes and Sickles

by HSavinien



Series: Nonfiction: Medieval Weapon Rants and Bullet-pointed Infodumps [5]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Genre: Battle, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Scythes, Sickles, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2019-09-13 11:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16891842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HSavinien/pseuds/HSavinien
Summary: By request, basic info on scythes and sickles and their uses (hint: not usually as weapons).





	Scythes and Sickles

**Author's Note:**

> takenabe:  
>  Could you please discuss the usage of sickles and scythes as weapons? It drives me crazy when people insist they make good weapons just because they see them all the time in anime and video games.

Oooohkay, so, you’re mostly right.

  * Just so everyone’s on the same page: [This ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FScythe&t=OGQ3NDU0ZmE1ZjFjZjZhY2FiZWUwNzE5MTI3OTE1NDQzMWYyM2U4OSxEMmdldUlMag%3D%3D&b=t%3AAbM2GQelIABrceH_cxJ4Yw&p=http%3A%2F%2Fhsavinien.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153631930392%2Fcould-you-please-discuss-the-usage-of-sickles-and&m=0)is a scythe.  Usually wooden curved handle a bit under 6 ft. long, 2-3 ft. metal blade.  [This ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSickle&t=MGY2MTUxN2FiNTc4MjBlYTJmYzI3MmJkZTQzMGE1MjY3MDUyYWRmZixEMmdldUlMag%3D%3D&b=t%3AAbM2GQelIABrceH_cxJ4Yw&p=http%3A%2F%2Fhsavinien.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153631930392%2Fcould-you-please-discuss-the-usage-of-sickles-and&m=0)is a sickle.  Variety of materials, bc like axes, EVERYONE has used some variation on them, way back from Neolithic times to the present.
  * Scythes and sickles are usually only incidentally weapons.
  * They are agricultural tools, primarily, that’s what they’re made for.  You use them to cut grain and grass.
  * You can kill people with them, but…they’re meant for cutting _grain_.  People are made up of much different materials.
  * (Their edges will dull v. quickly if used improperly, i.e., on humans, so be prepared to be honing them c o n s t a n t l y .)
  * Scythes are the last-ditch or heat-of-the-moment grab-something-sharp weapon of the peasantry. ([See the Polish 1863 uprising](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F7%2F76%2FPolish_scythemen_1863.PNG&t=YmM0OGQxZjZhZjliYzIxMDBkMzE5ZTc2YmExZTkzMDViNWIzZjEwNSxEMmdldUlMag%3D%3D&b=t%3AAbM2GQelIABrceH_cxJ4Yw&p=http%3A%2F%2Fhsavinien.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153631930392%2Fcould-you-please-discuss-the-usage-of-sickles-and&m=0).)
  * Death, especially in the Discworld books, gets a pass because of the power of narrative and symbology. This also applies to various gods of agriculture, if relevant.
  * Everyone else is usually going to do better with the meat cleaver or hatchet for improvised weaponry. Except…
  * Except that while scythes are pretty universally only improvised weapons, there’s actually a long history of sickles also being used for fighting.
    * Japan and the Philippines used the kama, a sickle that was incorporated into martial arts for use against swords and staves, which Japan then modified into the kusarigama, a sickle with a weighted ball on a chain attached.  See a demo of kusarigama vs katana [here](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6VweLV6lW8I&t=NWE0NDVkNjM3MzgxNmNlNDQ1YmUxNDc5OGUzZjgxMmY1ZDQzZGVkNixEMmdldUlMag%3D%3D&b=t%3AAbM2GQelIABrceH_cxJ4Yw&p=http%3A%2F%2Fhsavinien.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153631930392%2Fcould-you-please-discuss-the-usage-of-sickles-and&m=0).
    * China added a spear-point to theirs and created the chicken-claw sickle, used in the Xing Yi fighting tradition. (Yang, Jwing-Ming (1999). _Ancient Chinese Weapons: A Martial Artist’s Guide_.)
    * The Azande of North Central Africa apparently use/d some variation on the sickle as well, though I haven’t found much on it.
    * The Madurese people of Indonesia use/d the [celurit or clurit](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fatkinson-swords.com%2Fcollection-by-region%2Fsouth-east-asia%2Fthe-indonesian-archipelago%2Fjava%2Fcelurit-kembang-turi%2F&t=ZTEzNWJhNWE1NDQ2ODZhMWRhYmQzZjZmNzM5ZWZhMWIyY2FiMzQ3ZCxEMmdldUlMag%3D%3D&b=t%3AAbM2GQelIABrceH_cxJ4Yw&p=http%3A%2F%2Fhsavinien.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F153631930392%2Fcould-you-please-discuss-the-usage-of-sickles-and&m=0), again, largely for agricultural purposes, but it seems like it’s treated as a ceremonial weapon as well.  
    * There’s also a German dude, Paulus Hector Mair, who wrote a historical weapons treatise in the 1540s that included plates on scythe _and_ sickle-fighting.  Whether or not they were actually used as much as he indicated is a matter of debate, because he was a fighting manual geek and may have exaggerated.
  * They’ve never really been the best or preferred option for weapons, but people, particularly peasants, have a long history of using whatever was to hand.  Sometimes that got incorporated into professional fighting styles.
  * But it’s definitely not as common as video games make it out to be.




End file.
